Shoulder Surgery
No sooner than I pledge to revive my UltraLife and use this site to help motivate myself to get back in shape I learn that I need Rotator Cuff surgery!
I’ve had some shoulder pain in the past, but in early January I had a very bad episode with severe shoulder pain to the point that I could not move my right arm for several days.
I had 4 sleepless nights before the pain subsided and almost 2 weeks before I regained most of my arm mobility.
During this time I visited 2 different doctors. The first was Urgent Care. Honestly I was just hoping for a prescription of some powerful pain killers, but he gave me only Ibuprofen!
The second doctor was an Orthopedist. He prescribed Vicodin, but it wasn’t much better. He also ordered an MRI.
The doctor flew to Haiti so it’s been a few weeks to get the diagnosis. The MRI showed a torn rotator cuff and he recommends surgery!
Surgery is the last thing I expected or want, but after reviewing several websites and videos on YouTube, I have agreed to the surgery.
The rotator cuff tendon is normally attached the the bone (humerus). The other end of the rotator cuff tendon is attached to muscle. This muscle is elastic and if the tendon is partially or fully torn it will be pulled away from the bone so it cannot grow back or re-attach itself.
With rotator cuff surgery, the tendon is pulled back to the bone and held in place with metal anchors drilled into the bone and tied down with sutures.
There are some interesting videos on YouTube showing the rotator cuff repair procedure. Here are a few good ones.
Don’t view if you can’t stand a bit of blood and gore!
So, I guess I will be going under the knife. I am waiting to hear from the doctors office as to when they can schedule my procedure.
I’ll have 4-6 weeks of recovery, then a few months more of physical therapy. So, no swimming for a while, but as soon as I can run or get on the bike, I’ll get back on the road.
And until the surgery….I’ll keep up with my running schedule.
